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Monday, 23 December 2013

Started by Lucy Holmes back in August 2012 the No More Page 3 (NMP3) has quickly gained traction as it has gathered the support of big organisation such as the National Union of Head Teachers, the Girls Guides and Women’s Aid.

During the 2012 Olympics Lucy picked up The Sun newspaper while on a train. She noted happily that there was no Page 3 image; that page was full of the huge achievements Team GB was making. Then she reached page 13. There was a girl just in her pants, the largest picture in the paper – larger than the shot of Jessica Ennis, who had just won her gold medal. It made her feel sad, but also sickened. She had thought, perhaps, the paper had taken the Page 3 image out as a sign of respect to all the cultures visiting our country for the Olympics but no, they had just moved it.

Lucy told The Independent: ‘I am not a campaigner. But I felt such passion for this issue, passion that burnt like a fire in my chest, that I felt I had to do something about it… The page 3 girl image is there for no other reason than the sexual gratification of men. She’s a sex object. But when figures range from 300,000 women being sexually assaulted and 60,000 raped each year, to 1 in 4 who have been sexually assaulted, is it wise to be repeatedly perpetuating a notion that women are sexual objects?‘

Lucy set up an online petition through change.org, and created a No More Page 3 website on which there is also an open letter to the editor that is being signed by an increasing number of MPs. When feminist campaign groups Object and Turn Your Back on Page 3 made a joint submission about ‘the hyper-sexualisation of women in the press’ to the Leveson Inquiry at the end of 2012, Holmes told papers that that the inquiry’s focus on tabloid behaviour helped her campaign gain attention – as has the power of social media. She told The Guardian: ‘In 1970, a group of men, in a male-managed media, in a male-managed country, decided to put the naked breasts of young women in the newspaper, and in 2012, hopefully, we’re a different society. Shouldn’t we look at that decision again?’

Tuesday, 26 November 2013

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- In his first extensive piece of writing as pope, Pope Francis lays out a vision of the Catholic Church dedicated to evangelization in a positive key, with a focus on society's poorest and most vulnerable, including the aged and the unborn.

"Evangelii Gaudium" ("The Joy of the Gospel"), released by the Vatican Nov. 26, is an apostolic exhortation, one of the most authoritative categories of papal document. (Pope Francis' first encyclical, "Lumen Fidei," published in July, was mostly the work of his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI.)

The pope wrote the new document in response to the October 2012 Synod of Bishops on the new evangelization, but declined to work from a draft provided by synod officials.

Pope Francis' voice is unmistakable in the 50,000-word document's relatively relaxed style -- he writes that an "evangelizer must never look like someone who has just come back from a funeral!" -- and its emphasis on some of his signature themes, including the dangers of economic globalization and "spiritual worldliness."

The church's message "has to concentrate on the essentials, on what is most beautiful, most grand, most appealing and at the same time most necessary," he writes. "In this basic core, what shines forth is the beauty of the saving love of God made manifest in Jesus Christ who died and rose from the dead."

Inspired by Jesus' poverty and concern for the dispossessed during his earthly ministry, Pope Francis calls for a "church which is poor and for the poor."

The poor "have much to teach us," he writes. "We are called to find Christ in them, to lend our voices to their causes, but also to be their friends, to listen to them, to speak for them and to embrace the mysterious wisdom which God wishes to share with us through them."

Charity is more than mere handouts, "it means working to eliminate the structural causes of poverty and to promote the integral development of the poor," the pope writes. "This means education, access to health care, and above all employment, for it is through free creative, participatory and mutually supportive labor that human beings express and enhance the dignity of their lives."

Yet he adds that the "worst discrimination which the poor suffer is the lack of spiritual care. ... They need God and we must not fail to offer them his friendship, his blessing, his word, the celebration of the sacraments and a journey of growth and maturity in the faith."

Pope Francis reiterates his earlier criticisms of "ideologies that defend the absolute autonomy of the marketplace and financial speculation," which he blames for the current financial crisis and attributes to an "idolatry of money."

He emphasizes that the church's concern for the vulnerable extends to "unborn children, the most defenseless and innocent among us," whose defense is "closely linked to the defense of each and every other human right."

"A human being is always sacred and inviolable, in any situation and at every stage of development," the pope writes, in his strongest statement to date on the subject of abortion. "Once this conviction disappears, so do solid and lasting foundations for the defense of human rights, which would always be subject to the passing whims of the powers that be."

The pope writes that evangelization entails peacemaking, among other ways through ecumenical and interreligious dialogue. He "humbly" calls on Muslim majority countries to grant religious freedom to Christians, and enjoins Catholics to "avoid hateful generalizations" based on "disconcerting episodes of violent fundamentalism," since "authentic Islam and the proper reading of the Quran are opposed to every form of violence."

Pope Francis characteristically directs some of his strongest criticism at his fellow clergy, among other reasons, for what he describes as largely inadequate preaching.

The faithful and "their ordained ministers suffer because of homilies," he writes: "the laity from having to listen to them and the clergy from having to preach them!"

The pope devotes several pages to suggestions for better homilies, based on careful study of the Scriptures and respect for the principle of brevity.

Pope Francis reaffirms church teaching that only men can be priests, but notes that their "sacramental power" must not be "too closely identified with power in general," nor "understood as domination"; and he allows for the "possible role of women in decision-making in different areas of the church's life."

As he has done in a number of his homilies and public statements, the pope stresses the importance of mercy, particularly with regard to the church's moral teaching. While lamenting "moral relativism" that paints the church's teaching on sexuality as unjustly discriminatory, he also warns against overemphasizing certain teachings out of the context of more essential Christian truths.

In words very close to those he used in an oft-quoted interview with a Jesuit journalist in August, Pope Francis writes that "pastoral ministry in a missionary style is not obsessed with the disjointed transmission of a multitude of doctrines to be insistently imposed," lest they distract from the Gospel's primary invitation to "respond to the God of love who saves us."

Returning to a theme of earlier statements, the pope also warns against "spiritual worldliness, which hides behind the appearance of piety and even love for the church, (but) consists in seeking not the Lord's glory but human glory and personal well-being," either through embrace of a "purely subjective faith" or a "narcissistic and authoritarian elitism" that overemphasizes certain rules or a "particular Catholic style from the past."

Despite his censures and warnings, the pope ends on a hopeful note true to his well-attested devotion to Mary, whom he invokes as the mother of evangelization and "wellspring of happiness for God's little ones."

Friday, 22 November 2013

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- After a two-hour private meeting with the patriarchs and major archbishops of the Eastern Catholic churches, Pope Francis prayed for peace and full religious freedom throughout the Middle East.

Referring to himself, he said "the bishop of Rome will not be at peace as long as there are men and women -- of any religion -- harmed in their dignity, deprived of what is necessary for their survival, robbed of their future or forced to become refugees."

"Let us make an appeal so that the right of everyone to a dignified life and to freely profess their faith is respected," the pope said Nov. 21 during a meeting with all of the members of the Congregation for Eastern Churches.

The large gathering followed the private meeting with 10 heads of Eastern churches and the Latin-rite patriarch of Jerusalem, mainly to talk about the situation of Christians in Syria, Iraq and other parts of the Middle East.

But Pope Francis said they also spoke about the rebirth of the Armenian, Ukrainian, Romanian and other Byzantine churches oppressed under communism in the 20th century and the missionary dynamism of the Syro-Malabar and Syro-Malankara Catholic churches based in India.

He said he listened to the patriarch of Jerusalem and the Coptic, Syrian, Melkite, Maronite, Chaldean and Armenian patriarchs testify to the perseverance of their faithful in the Middle East where they often are small minorities "in environments marked by hostility, conflict and even hidden persecution."

"At times," he said, "Syria, Iraq, Egypt and other areas of the Holy Land flow with tears."

Despite the dangers and the desire of many Christians to immigrate to places where they can raise their families in peace, the pope said, "we cannot resign ourselves to thinking of a Middle East without Christians, who for 2,000 years have professed the name of Jesus."

The region's Christians, he said, deserve to be recognized as citizens of their countries with full rights, including religious freedom.

Despite the challenges Catholics in the Middle East face, "the light of faith has not been extinguished, but rather shines brightly," he said, and every Catholic owes them gratitude.

The world's Christians can look to the Christians of the Middle East and learn the patience and hard work that goes into "the daily exercise of a spirit of ecumenical and interreligious dialogue," Pope Francis said. "The geographical, historical and cultural context in which they have lived for centuries, in fact, has made them the natural interlocutors for numerous other Christian confessions and other religions."

Pope Francis asked all Catholics to pray that God would bring reconciliation and peace to the region.

"Prayer disarms the foolish and generates dialogue where there is conflict," he said, adding that with sincere and persevering prayers the voice of Christians becomes "meek and firm, able to make even national leaders listen."

Referring to Jerusalem as the place "where all of us were spiritually born," Pope Francis prayed that Blesseds John XXIII and John Paul II, "untiring peacemakers on earth, would be our intercessors in heaven" to bring peace to the Middle East.

Thursday, 24 October 2013

Search for the leader within

How’s life? For many men, the token reply might be: “I can’t complain”, “Alright”, “OK” or “Not bad”. But how often are these standard answers simply an empty response designed to save from us from acknowledging and sharing the truth?

I don’t know about your experience, but I speak to a lot of different people from all walks of life and there’s a common theme I find with almost everyone when they’re being dangerously honest: life regularly feels like an uphill struggle.

But what if, in the midst of our darkest hour, we could reinterpret our biggest challenges and most painful struggles and use them as the catalyst for our greatest breakthroughs?

Eight years ago I hit rock bottom. In truth, I’d been struggling for years, but this was my lowest ebb. I was unemployed and addicted to drugs and alcohol, going from one relationship to the next and my life was a complete mess. After wasting years of my life in and out of trouble, I had exhausted all my options and I was fed up.

One day I decided I’d had enough. I felt powerless to control my life and was fed up of waiting for someone to rescue me. I stood on the edge of pavement feeling empty and heartbroken, riddled with anger and self-loathing. I decided my life was no longer worth living.

In that moment I decided to jump in front of one of the big tour buses that toured the red light district where I lived. But just as I had decided that I was ready to go through with it, something happened.

Now I don’t know what you believe, but in that moment I had an undeniable encounter with God. From one moment to the next, I felt such a deep need to live; as though a voice inside me was telling me to reconsider. The only way I can describe it is that there was a fight going on for my life; like I was being pulled from one side to another, from death to life.

I’m happy to say that the pull to live was so intense that I immediately stepped away from the curb through shock. An overwhelming sense of hope flooded my body and I knew without fully understanding how that there was more for me. That day I gave my life to Christ and was instantly free from my addictions.

Now, I’m a completely different person. I know that I am 100% forgiven of the mistakes that I made in the past. However, forgiveness was only the beginning of my journey. Over the last eight years I have dedicated my life to studying human psychology and to helping others make the changes that we as individuals have to make for ourselves.

I’ve realised that most people aren’t living the lives they’re designed to live. Regardless of their faith, the majority of people believe they have very little control over their destiny. Most have stopped growing and taking risks and have simply settled for the status quo.

The reality is, no one ever aimed for mediocrity, but in order to avoid feeling out of control, most people have chosen to play safe and use humility as an excuse. Secretly, many live in regret.

The greatest myth perpetuated by society is that leadership begins and ends in the corporate boardroom. The truth is, real leadership starts in your own living room.

Regardless of what you believe, if you’re feeling unhappy, uninspired and unfulfilled, it’s because you are not the leader of your own destiny.

I’m excited to invite you to attend a two-day event called I’m hosting on January 31 and February 1 called ‘Become the Leader’. At this event you will learn exactly what you need to do in order to transform the way that see and live your life forever.

This event will take you way out of your comfort zone, demanding more of you than you ever imagined possible. You’ll discover how to re-engineer your psychology so that you can feel more in control and happier than you have in a long time.

As a special incentive for Sorted readers, register before the end of December and I'll include £1,000 of bonuses when you email coaching@lukehavard.com with your ticket receipt and enter SORTED in the body of the email.

Read more from Luke in Sorted January-February, out in December. If you can’t wait for your Sorted fix until then, our November-December issue is just landing on subscribers’ doorsteps and hitting the shelves of WH Smith stores.

Friday, 11 October 2013

Celebrating its 6th year anniversary,
Sorted magazine has successfully redefined the lad's mag by leading the way with
a positive editorial policy. With Becks on the latest cover, even rival title
Loaded now admits the Sorted team have got it right.

A men's magazine with morals, with a
Christian church evangelist and established stage magician in the editor's
chair; it all seemed a very unlikely recipe for publishing success. Even the
magazine industry's own trade bible, Press Gazette, for years ignored reporting
Steve Legg's
vision. Today, though, this maverick editor has been proved right.

With the demand for
sleazy men's mags decreasing and leading retailers insisting on 'modesty bags',
it is clear that the Sorted magazine recipe has won favour with readers far and
wide.

Competitor, Loaded magazine, has even accepted this changing tide,
promising to introduce a shift of focus within their magazine with a greater
emphasis on fashion, music, entertainment and sport. Their trademark soft porn
imagery is on the way out, the positive male role model is in. Outdated, their
title has had a troubled recent history, passing through several owners and
briefly going into administration.

So just why has Sorted been such a
pioneer in this most competitive of publishing markets? And why has the media
press, like Press Gazette, chosen to ignore this growth?

According to
Duncan Williams, a member of Media@HTB and also Director at Son Christian Media
Limited, who publish Sorted; "Our titles always aim to be very much ahead of the
game. I hope and believe they are creating major changes, very much for the
better, in the men's lifestyle magazine market, maybe even beyond that, in the
way we offer a more positive role model for modern men to identify
with."

David Beckham is certainly a positive role model, a
family man who has endured ups and downs, both in his professional and personal
life, yet remains a modern day hero, even worshipped by many men.

"Yes,"
agrees Duncan. "Becks is the ideal choice to appear on our anniversary cover.
Intelligent sport, entertainment and in-depth interviews, rather than a diet of
adolescent soft porn and shallow gloss are what Sorted is all about. We also
have Bear Grylls
talking about faith and Man United boss David Moyes discussing his strongly held views on Christianity."

Both Steve
Legg and Duncan
Williams affirm these are all subjects that growing numbers of modern men really
want to read and think about.

Says Duncan; "These issues are also
confrontational and, to some, even idiotic or incendiary, and I believe this is
why we often get ignored by
the publishing establishment. Sadly, in this day and age, faith, certainly one's
religion, has become a dangerous topic."

But if the tide really is
changing, and other men's mags follow the Sorted lead and 'go ethical', couldn't
this actually be a threat to Sorted's future success? Is this not an own
goal?

"Goodness, no!" insist the Sorted team. "Imitation is the sincerest form
of flattery. We have absolute faith in our trailblazing brand and other
publishers know this only too well. We are playing to win!!"

Having grown up in a Christian home and split my scholastic career between three ‘Christian’ schools, you might think I would have been overwhelmed by Bible teaching and endless faith-based discussions.

However, while God was very real to me outside of school, the way religion was presented within the school walls was somewhat lacking. Assemblies were boring, RE lessons were lacklustre and the general feeling was that no-one really believed what they were teaching us anyway, so why should we?

Interestingly, Ofsted seems to have come to a similar conclusion when it comes to the portrayal of Christianity – and religion in general – in schools. According to the schools inspection body, the Christian faith is being “squeezed out” of schools and pupils deserve “much better”.

I actually remember what we were taught about other faiths much more distinctly than about Christianity at school. I was fascinated by the appearance of Vishnu and Shiva, and intrigued to learn what was eaten during the Passover Festival. But apart from some very dry discussion about sacraments and God’s judgement, I don’t remember very much of what we learnt about my own faith. I’m pretty sure Jesus was barely mentioned.

One of the criticisms Ofsted has levelled at schools is that they are focused on “superficial” observations and bringing discussions about Christianity to a “happy end” rather than engaging in genuine debate. I wanted to know how all the animals fitted into Noah’s ark, or at least whether my pets would go to heaven (I'm told not, but am still holding out hope). But back in my day controversy was strictly avoided, and Ofsted claims this is still the case today.

After inspecting 185 schools, Ofsted found that 60% of primary schools and just over 50% of secondary schools failed to realise the subject's full potential. Its 'Religious education: realising the potential' report identified low standards, weak teachings, a confused sense of purpose, training gaps and weaknesses in the way religious education is examined.

RE is compulsory in all state schools at present, but weirdly it is not part of the national curriculum. Instead, individual schools and councils are responsible for drawing up their own syllabuses.

Ofsted’s director of schools, Michael Cladingbowl, said: "At its best, religious education encourages children and young people to extend their natural curiosity and prepares them for life in modern society.

"We saw some great examples of this during the survey, but too often we found religious education lessons being squeezed out by other subjects and children and young people leaving school with little knowledge or understanding of different religions.

"This just isn’t good enough when religion and belief are playing such a profound part in today’s world. Pupils deserve much better."

It’s hardly surprising that the number of pupils opting to study RE at GCSE level has dropped sharply. But on reflection, should schools be held responsible for teaching children about Christianity and other religions? Or do parents and local churches/religious centres also have a part to play?

I know for a fact I’d never have encountered God for myself through our boring RE lessons, but fortunately my parents walked out their faith and took me to church where I could ask the questions I had (and there were many) and pursue my own faith. So what about those who aren’t given this opportunity?

Well I guess that’s where we come in. Some Christians are accused of indoctrinating their children, but I believe it is our responsibility to present people with the basics and then allow them to make their own decisions. And that doesn’t just apply to children.

Sorted and Liberti magazines aren’t the answer to our schools’ lack of conviction when it comes to religion, but they certainly engage with Christianity in a real and unforceful way. I’m happy to have swapped the dusty lessons for the glossy magazines and I hope you will feel the same way should you choose to have a read.

Monday, 9 September 2013

DAVID Moyes is revealed as a quietly-spoken Christian with an interest in the pastoral care of his players.

However, in an autobiography Red Card Roy author, Roy McDonough, who played with Moyes in a struggling Cambridge United side in 1984-85 claims that didn't go down to well with him.

Moyes was one of a trio of active Christians at the club, the others being Alan Comfort and Graham Daniels and dubbed by McDonough as "Cambridge's Holy Trinity."

He writes: "The three of them sat in the changing room with a little black book, discussing their beliefs, when they should have been getting psyched up for a relegation scrap.

"I would cut out a lurid tabloid newspaper story and stick it on the noticeboard in front of them saying, 'see that pervert. That's what you will end up like. Vicars messing around with the choir boys.' But they just turned the other cheek."

McDonough admits he "completely lost the plot with the God Squad" after a 3-3 draw at Wigan in which snapping: "I was still in a bad temper after the game, sinking a couple of cans on the coach before launching into a fully blown persecution of the Christians.

"In my mind they were part of the problem. They were too nice on the pitch, not nasty enough to win games, so it was like turning up with eight men each week.

"I battered Moyes first demanding to know why a big ginger Jock from Glasgow Celtic could play with absolutely zero aggression, putting all of his energies into bleating on about Jesus instead.

"Alan Comfort had scored that day, so I gave him a wide berth. But there was no respite for Graham Daniels, who had recently become a father but was out of contract at the end of the season.

He writes: 'And you,' I spewed. 'I'm fighting the world for this team and you're doing nothing. Where is God when we are fighting for our lives and getting beaten every week?

"He's not giving us much help is he? You've no chance of getting an new contract here. Who's going to fend for your baby and put food on the plate?

"Daniels just looked up at the roof of the coach, smiled, and said three words: 'He will provide.' I could have baptized him with a can of beer there and then but I didn't want to waste it. After that I never bothered saying anything again and, and the three of them stuck to their beliefs."

Comfort, who later played for Orient and Middlesbrough, became a vicar. He works in Walthamstow and is Leyton Orient's club chaplain. Daniels is General Director of Christians in Sport.COPYRIGHT (c) NEWS OF THE WORD

Wednesday, 24 July 2013

THE widow of a church organist who was beaten to death has
revealed she has forgiven his killers – and that losing her husband
has cemented her faith.

Maureen Greaves explained in a TV interview last week that although
it was a “daily struggle”, she placed “in God’s hands” the men who
battered her husband, Alan.

Ashley Foster was found guilty of manslaughter last week, while
Jonathan Bowling admitted murdering Mr Greaves at an earlier
hearing.

Mr Greaves was viciously battered on Christmas Eve last year as he
walked to St Saviour’s Church in High Green, Sheffield.

Following the verdict on Foster, Mrs Greaves, a committed
Christian, revealed that she had forgiven the men, but she had to
ask God daily to help her battle.

The 64-year-old said: “It has to be a daily act of saying ‘I place
them in your hands, God’, so that I don’t have to worry about them,
I don’t have to hate them.

“After the massive shock and heartbreak, this was probably the most
difficult thing I have ever had to do, to go down the path of
forgiving them.

“It has been a wonderful release that I have not had the burden of
hatred towards them. I have to do it every day so I don’t
lapse.

“It is not an easy journey to look two men in the face who have
killed the person you love most in the world and hang onto
that.

“When you are sitting there in court and you see them and you are
heartbroken at what they have done to you, they have taken from you
the person who is still your soulmate, it is very difficult to sit
there and continue to forgive them and want to forgive them.”

Despite describing the process of adapting to life without her
husband as an “intensely painful journey”, Ms Greaves says the loss
has cemented her faith rather than destroying it.She said: “One
thing I have comforted myself with is that the God I believe in had
a son who was beaten as Alan was beaten. The God I believe in had a
son who was resurrected as I believe Alan will be resurrected to be
with God.”

Bowling was given life imprisonment for murdering Mr Greaves, and
will serve a minimum of 25 years. Foster was given a nine-year
prison sentence for his part in the killing. Both men are aged
22.

Tuesday, 23 July 2013

The Son or the Sun newspaper, popular British tabloid, hit the hearts of
people and the Internet with its new headline marking the birth of Prince
William and Kate’s son with a special edition named the Son.

At the
bottom the Son used two pictures of the Duke and Duchess smiling, with a short
message: "At 4:24 pm yesterday, an 8lbs 6oz baby boy was born at St Mary's
Hospital, London. To William and Kate, a son. To the nation, our future King.
Let the celebrations begin!"

The
news that the Duchess of Cambridge has given birth to the future king has been
celebrated on the front page of every paper in Britain.

The
Telegraph today happily delcares "It's a boy!" on the front page. The
Telegraph's leading editorial argues that the birth of a prince is reason for
unabashed celebration: "When any baby is born we may want to ring bells in
celebration. For a prince, we can, and the big guns too will fire 41 times in
salute. This is something we are not shy to make a noise about."

The
Guardian splashed with the fairly sober headline "A birth, a boy, a prince, a
king". The paper devoted four pages to the royal baby, focusing on how relieved
the world's media was to finally have some tangible news to report on after days
of waiting and hoping.

The
Independent, which tries - when possible - not to report on the Royal Family,
acknowledged the arrival of the new baby with the headline: "Special delivery
Duchess gives birth to a prince - and a media feeding frenzy begins."

The
Daily Mail devotes 20 pages to stories on the birth in its souvenir special
edition. Besides, it is the only paper to feature Prince Charles on its cover.
The paper carried stories on everything from the baby's impressive weight: "At
8lbs 6oz he's the heaviest future king in 100 years" to Team Kate: "From the
vicar's daughter to the karaoke addict, the aides that were there at the birth",
and of course, how the late Princess Diana would have loved her first
grandchild: "My friend Diana would have been such a doting granny".

The
Times’ cover has tenderly smiling Duchess who looks at the Duke, with the short
message at the bottom: "Welcome to the world." And on the back cover there is a
quote from Prince William: "we could not be happier".

The
Daily Express marked the birth with a special souvenir edition including an
eight-page "royal baby pullout". Inside the paper itself, nine pages detailed
the happy occasion, with stories predicting that the new arrival would give the
economy a boost and that the Duke and Duchess would be "hands-on" parents,
shunning a private nanny and relying on the help and support of family members
instead.

The Daily Mirror also offered its readers a special souvenier edition, with 10 pages
of coverage of "Our little prince".

The
Daily Star with the headline "It’s a boy" on the cover carries a detailed story
of the character of the royal baby. The paper predicted the new prince would be
"sensitive" and "caring like Di" because of his star sign, Cancer.

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Monday, 10 June 2013

Why do ordinary Christians seem to be more open handed with
money than the wealthy churches they sometimes attend?

In the film ‘The Shoes of the Fisherman’ (1968), a fictional
Catholic pope decides to give away the Catholic Church’s riches to avert a war
and help the poor. In real life this kind of radical action doesn’t tend to
happen. Open hands can be rare in a world which puts
such a high value on money and such a low value on human life.

Perhaps this is how the real world always works.

Asking naive questions like: “Why do things have to be this way?” is often the cause for
derision. If you ever ask a church leader why any denomination isn't more generous, you may get the classic 'leadership' response: “You go first”.

But this isn’t the whole story. A recent study by the researchers ‘State of the Plate’
found that secret giving is a healthy pastime for many ordinary Western Christians. They found that those who regularly give to their churches also tend to give to many other causes. And they found that these people often secretly give money to the homeless, child sponsorship and natural disaster crisis appeals.

'State of the Plate' research findings

Of course no-one knows for sure how many others give secretly.

I’m not saying that every church denomination refuses to
give money to the needy. What I am saying is that it seems that ordinary believers are taking the lead and doing what the church authorities are
only preaching about.

Friday, 10 May 2013

Christians can get a bad press. In a way believers can’t win
because if we complain we are simply written-off as a whinging, easily offended
minority.

Take David Bowie’s new music video ‘The Next Day’. The video is already causing controversy in some circles
because it features that constant favourite of the arts – the stereotypical
corrupt Christian leader. And because David Bowie appears in the video as a Christ-like figure.

The video starts off with a priest hitting a child beggar before
attending a shady church/club to try to satisfy his sexual urges. Things have moved on
a little since Madonna’s ‘Like a Prayer’
or Depeche Mode’s ‘Personal Jesus’. These
days, because we are ‘sooo very sophisticated’, we are treated to scenes of a
woman with blood-spurting stigmata.

Bowie appears in the video dressed in
sackcloth like a modern day prophet, or even like Christ.

Bowie’s song lyrics make the message of ‘The Next Day’ plain:

“They live upon their
feet and they die upon their knees

They can work with
Satan while they dress like the saints

They know God exists
for the devil told them so.”

And to be fair it is only the Christian leaders who Bowie is
attacking. Because in art, film and media it tends to be the Christian leaders
who get most of the flak - perhaps because they are the ones with greater power
and responsibility. When this power is abused then singers, writers and artists get angry.

But it wouldn’t be fair to say it’s all bad press for
Christians (or to whinge too much!). Coming out on Monday 13th May
is the DVD, Blu-Ray and digital version of ‘Les
Miserables’. The hit film/musical features a positive, likeable Christian
hero who actually practices what he preaches. You could say the original story was written over
150 years ago - but that really would be whinging! I’ve heard so many people
from all backgrounds say they love this film.

Maybe David Bowie (the 'man who fell to earth') really feels
he is the voice in the wilderness confronting the hypocrisy of the Church. His
message is a lucrative one which many people want to hear. But it isn’t
necessarily the truth.

Friday, 3 May 2013

Currently copies of SORTED Magazine are distributed to every single Royal Navy ship as well as to numerous Royal Air Force stations - reports James Morgan.

It is our sincere belief that our title provides spiritual solace to those serving their country. This does not only apply to those who have a Christian faith, but also offers an introduction to Christianity to many others. Many of these young men feel morally conflicted and an ethical and wholesome publication aids in restoring some inner calm. So much so that it's message can cross religious boundaries and benefit the secular world too.

We are very keen to extend the provision of our title to the Army. Currently the copies to the armed forces have been provided for free. This is fully in keeping with our desire to add value to them and to make them feel valued, I would add that we make similar provisions for the prison population.

I have recently been holding meetings with affluent parishes in central London. The principal is that a parish can make a bulk purchase of SORTED Magazine, which can then be bought singly by parishioners, the difference in bulk buying prices will then be used to pay for donated copies for the Army. A particular church can choose to support any unit with which they have an affiliation.

Get Sorted, available at 'Smiths' throughout the United Kingdom

Sorted is selling well at WH Smith stores across the UK!

Show your support and confirm to retailers that there is high demand for ethical, fun and faith based men's mags by picking up your copy in store.

Alternatively, click online at Sorted magazineto order a copy for yourself, or to sponsor a 'bundle box' supply for a British armed forces station of your choice!

Wednesday, 17 April 2013

Dame Judi Dench has impressed theatre and cinemagoers for many years with her remarkable acting talent. Her most memorable recent role was the hard-nosed boss of British intelligence in the perennially popular James Bond films.

Dame Judi in character as James Bond boss 'M'.

In the Bond series, Dench is often portrayed battling against the forces of evil and thwarting the plans of twisted criminal masterminds.

What few people know is that Dame Judi has actually devoted much of her own time, off screen, to combating one of the most insidious side-effects of crime, the aftermath of the war on drug addiction. She has been a long-term patron of the Rehabilitation of Addicted Prisoners Trust (RAPt) charity, which helps offenders get into recovery from drug and alcohol addiction, while at the same time serving prison sentences.

"The benefits are obvious," says Dame Judi. "Repeat offenders are often committing crimes just to fund their own dependency. If we can break this cycle we can save the individual and help society."

This appears to be a very Christian viewpoint, which is not surprising when we questioned her a little further about her faith.

"I am a Quaker," she says with some pride. "I think it informs almost everything I do.

"The work RAPt undertakes in prisons and elsewhere is a great example of offering help in the most practical way to those who are caught in the demonic spiral of addiction."

Bond would be most impressed. The team here at Libertimost certainly is!